Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-11-22
THE NICARAGUA CANAL
WATERWAY FROM THE CARIBBEAN
SEA TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

The Route to Cover Tkirty-Nine Miles of
Excavatsd Canal, Forty-Five Niles by
Lake Nicaragua, and Thence Over the
San Juan River.
WARRINGTON, Nov. 2i.-The Near
augua Canal company will very soon take
the first practical atep toward the con-
struction of the proposed canal connect
ing tho Caribbean sea with the Pacific
ocean. A party of forty surveyors and
their assistants, under the Immediate
control of. Civil Engineer p. f. Peary,
will leave New York city next Saturday
on the steamer Honda for Nicaragua,
for the purpose of making minute and
extended surveys Of the canal route. One
hundred laborers will be added to the
party when they reach Greytown, the
eastern terminus of the proposed canal.
The surveyors will at once begin the
work of making an axial location of the
canal from sea to sen, and make addition
al bearings. After determining the sites
of the locks, dams and entertainments, a
railroad will also be located, to be built
IS soon as the construction of the canal
is commenced. The proposed route of
the canal extends from this harbor of
to Brito, on the Pacific. Its total
length is ITO miles, of which
t~hirty-nine miles will be exceyated canal,
forty-f1ve navigation by Like Nicaragua
and eighty-six miles by the River San
Juan, (the outlet of the lake,, the basin
of the River San Francisco and through
seven locks. The lake will be connected
with the Pacific by q canal about sixteen
miles In length. The concession granted
by Nicaragua to the and
which was ratified by that government
last April, is as liberal as could be de-
sired, 1t gives to the company the ex.
elusive privilege OF building and operat-
ing the canal n railroad for ninety
nine yeafs, with q privilege of extending
their control for a like period. The sea
ports and the entrances to the canal are
to be free to the merchant vessels. Large
donations OF lands, In alternate sections
on the route of the canal, amounting to
300 square miles, are given to the com
pAny. The final surveys, now o to be
commenced, are, under the terms of the
concession, to be commenced within one
year after its ratification by the Mica
rauguan congress, and q year and a half
is allowed to complete, and Sc, 600, 900
must be spent on construction during the
first year of the work.
Admiral Ammon, who has long been
known as a champion of the Nicaraugua
canal project, believes this route Is per-
fectly practicable, free from complicated
or doubtful engineering problems, and
that 1T is the most economical route for
inter oceanic ship communication be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
He says that, as now located. the navi-
CATION from sea to sea would be IT'S
miles, of which forty are to be excayated,
possibly admitting of a reduction OF
ten miles by the further substi-
tuition of estuary navigation in
the eastern division. Not less than
fourteen miles can be executed by
dredges, and the remainder will almost
wholly be effected by machine labor.
The last partial survey, made two years
ago, developed the estuary Of the San
Francisco river near the caribbean sea
coast, actually adding, he says, so per
cent. to the commercial value of the
route. The further development of estu-
AIRY navigation will doubtless shorten the
mileage Of excavation, and further lessen
the cost of construction and maintenance
of the canal, but to what extent
can only be known when the work
of this Surveying party is completed.
The estimated cost is $65. 600, 600, and it
may be completed in six years, of which
one year, perhaps, will be expended
perfecting re location, and making
the necessary preparation for active
operations,